Revised lighting settings

PeterD-2009

Thanks to all who have helped me in improving my Macro techniques:clap.

Here are a few examples of my recent attempts and I would appreciate any further comments on these.

Water measurer (Hydrometra stagnorum)

My previous attempts seemed to lack sufficient tonal range to bring out sufficient detail. This I think was due to the intensity of the flash being too strong. I think that this is improved in the image below.


There still remains a problem where too much light is reflected from the eyes.

Phasia hemiptera

This is the female of the species posted by Phil in his recent thread. The usual problem I had where the wings reflected too much light seems to have been overcome here. Lighting was natural sunlight and fill-in flash.


Volucella inanis

One of the largest hoverfly species in the UK.



I think this came out OK. The danger here were the white flowers below the hoverfly.

Episyrphus balteatus

Another hoverfly which goes by the common name 'Marmalade Fly' here in the UK. I have got sufficient lighting to extract the detail. The down side is the bright area on the wing. This may have been sunlight as it was a very bright day when this was taken.






Red tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

I think this came out well. I caught this Bee clambering around the vegetation before it had enough energy to fly.




Long-horn Beetle (Rutpela maculata)




Any comments are welcome.

Thanks for looking

BeardedChick

These are really nice, Peter. It's nice to see the lighting notes.

GOLDENORFE

very good, the last 4 frames look much better than the first couple.
1st marmalade hover shot easily the best

with bigger subjects you are more likely to get hotspots in the eyes , you could try a poloriser filter, brian has been experimenting with.

PeterD-2009

BeardedChick wrote: »

These are really nice, Peter. It's nice to see the lighting notes.

Thank you. There are still a number of things I need to do to improve but I want to tackle them in easy stages. Lighting certainly is the something that has spoiled my images where light areas have burnt-out with the resulting loss of detail. These, I think, show good improvement over my earlier postings.

GOLDENORFE wrote: »

very good, the last 4 frames look much better than the first couple.
1st marmalade hover shot easily the best

with bigger subjects you are more likely to get hotspots in the eyes , you could try a poloriser filter, brian has been experimenting with.

Thank you Phil for your comments and suggestion. I think you are absolutely right that a polorising filter should help to get closer to my target on lighting. These filters lose about 2 stops of light but I should easily be able to cope with that. I am looking at a circular polarising filter so that it does not interfere with AF and exposure performance from the camera. The filter I have in mind is http://www.digital2u.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=135_136&products_id=725&osCsid=38955c347bdd794dc705e502e1dbb433
Do you have any opinion on this?

Thanks

GOLDENORFE

i dont use one, only cokin square filters for landscapes.

brian has been using one recently , he will help you.

should be using manual focus anyhow so circular poloriser not needed!

PeterD-2009

GOLDENORFE wrote: »

i dont use one, only cokin square filters for landscapes.

brian has been using one recently , he will help you.

should be using manual focus anyhow so circular poloriser not needed!

Thanks Phil, I shall wait for Brian.

Just a couple of things though.
The guides I have read regarding the linear versus circular polarisers suggested that the linear filter will also upset auto exposure in dslr's.
I have been using C-AF throughout for my macro images. The reason I opted for this method was that the AF system would compensate for any subject or camera movement when operating the shutter. What is the disadvantages in using this method? I have tried S-AF and Manual. The former I stopped using due to mis-focus when the shutter is fully released but the latter did not offer me any noticeable advantage.

Thanks again for your help

Lord Vetinari

Wonderful series of captures !
Have been using CPL filters for bright sunny day natural light shots and to a lesser extent for full flash shots in similar conditions - does help reduce bright spots from sun reflections. I just bought some very cheap filters from 7dayshop as I was not sure how useful they would be. These work fine but do suffer from glare problems if you start shooting nearer to the sun (which is not often).
Like Phil I always use manual focus (you have to with an MPE-65 anyway) - this is because AF is often slow in macro, it can't tell what you actually want to focus on (eg head rather than body or the leaf behind) and lastly because I often shoot when the camera is moving slowly towards or away from the subject. I use the fixed focus (fixed magnification) move camera method. It is much easier to hold the camera steady if you are slowly moving than it is to try and hold it dead still.

Brian V.

PeterD-2009

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Wonderful series of captures !
Have been using CPL filters for bright sunny day natural light shots and to a lesser extent for full flash shots in similar conditions - does help reduce bright spots from sun reflections. I just bought some very cheap filters from 7dayshop as I was not sure how useful they would be. These work fine but do suffer from glare problems if you start shooting nearer to the sun (which is not often).
Like Phil I always use manual focus (you have to with an MPE-65 anyway) - this is because AF is often slow in macro, it can't tell what you actually want to focus on (eg head rather than body or the leaf behind) and lastly because I often shoot when the camera is moving slowly towards or away from the subject. I use the fixed focus (fixed magnification) move camera method. It is much easier to hold the camera steady if you are slowly moving than it is to try and hold it dead still.

Brian V.

Thank you Brian

I shall look for some cheap filters to try first.
I agree that C-AF can be very slow using a macro lens but I pre-focus manually, then finalise it with AF on a half shutter press. I find this snaps the focus quickly and takes potential unwanted high contrast points oof which gets round the 'hunting' problem. I can set up the AF to a fine point which ensures I focus on what I intend to get. The camera has a setting which prevents sudden large changes in focus and hence I am confident it has locked on to the target and stays there when I fully depress the shutter. Throw aways for focus are few and far between. I have been reading your excellant article on 'image stacking' and obviously will need to use manual focus for that. That is my next project after I get the lighting correct.
Whilst talking about lighting, I took the following shot in full sun with flash as a fill-in. I think I am getting there as the dangers of white flowers and metallic reflective casing on the this hoverfly can be a real source of problems.



Cheers for now

Lord Vetinari

Last shot is excellent- great exposure !
Brian v.

PeterD-2009

Thank you Brian.